/*
 * Copyright 2010-2020 Alfresco Software, Ltd.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.activiti.engine.impl.variable;

import org.activiti.engine.api.internal.Internal;

/**
 * Interface describing a container for all available {@link VariableType}s of variables.
 *


 */
@Internal
public interface VariableTypes {
    /**
     * @return the type for the given type name. Returns null if no type was found with the name.
     */
    public VariableType getVariableType(String typeName);

    /**
     * @return the variable type to be used to store the given value as a variable.
     * @throws ActivitiException
     *           When no available type is capable of storing the value.
     */
    public VariableType findVariableType(Object value);

    public VariableTypes addType(VariableType type);

    /**
     * Add type at the given index. The index is used when finding a type for an object. When different types can store a specific object value, the one with the smallest index will be used.
     */
    public VariableTypes addType(VariableType type, int index);

    public int getTypeIndex(VariableType type);

    public int getTypeIndex(String typeName);

    public VariableTypes removeType(VariableType type);
}
